Red
by tiger002
Summary: Red, the color of blood, of pain, of death. Red, the color of change, of redeption, of life. The war against the Nightwings rages in the sequel to Domino Effect.
1. Chapter 1: How Could We Have Known?

Separated Series

_Separated but not Apart - Domino Effect - **Red** - Nova_

* * *

_'And so the time has come, it's here_  
_The silence ends, a change is near_

_You wait in the palid slivered sky_  
_Come into the pantheon_

_Welcome to the universe_  
_Welcome to the universe'_

_Welcome to the Universe, 30 Seconds to Mars_

**Prologue: How Could We Have Known?**

**July 13 2006**

A gentle wind blew through the trees on that cool spring day. The three kids stood at the wood's entrance, a mix of excitement and fear building in them.

"Come on Cody," Zack said to his brother as they were entering the woods.

"I don't know, what if we get lost?" he nervously replied.

"If you guys don't do it now, you won't get another chance," the third one said at the already several feet into the maze of trees

"Yea, Justin is right. With us moving to the Tipton tomorrow, we have to explore these woods at least once," Zack said, hoping to finally get his brother to do take a chance and have fun.

"Besides Cody, what's the worst that could happen?" Justin added.

A thousand different scenarios went though Cody's twelve year old mind. They could get lost, a wolf could eat them, or they could drown in quick sand. True, most of those fears were unlikely to come true, but it could happen. With his two friends already going further into the forest, Cody realized he was alone, so quickly ran to catch up to them.

The raging sun of summer was above them, but beneath the many massive trees, the blue sky could hardly be seen. Even though it was the middle of July, and one of the hottest days of the summer, beneath the shade of the trees, it almost seemed cool. Once Cody caught up with his friends, he was constantly gazing around, looking for the impending doom he just knew was coming.

"Dude, calm down. This is just the forest behind grandpa's house."

"Yea, what do you think gonna happen? The big bad wolf comes and eats us all?" Justin added.

"It could happen," Cody nervously said, looking down at the ground.

After shrugging off Cody's fears, the three of them continued through the woods, fascinated by the displays of nature. After walking for about 10 minuets, they came to a clearing in the woods. While there weren't as many trees in that spot, the massive branches around them still provided them with shade. Zack sat down on the trunk of a recently fallen tree. Justin came and sat down beside him. "I can't believe you guys are actually moving. It feels like I just met you," Justin said brushing his long black hair out of his face

"It's been 10 months since we came here," Cody said sitting on the ground beside them. It seemed so much had changed since they came to this new city not knowing anyone. Their mom had finally found a decent job singing at a local bar at nights, while staying at her parents' house. At the start of the school year, they had entered it alone, but over the months they finally made some friends.

"Why do parents have to move so often," Justin said, dishearten at knowing he was about to lose his two best friends.

"Yeah, we didn't do anything to deserve this. Adults are stupid," the older twin said.

As much as Cody tried respecting the authority of elders, even he had to agree with that. After all, they didn't get a say in where they went or who they stayed with. Instead, they were just dragged along, ripped away from any friends they were starting to make. "Too bad we can't do anything to stop it," he said.

The sound of a twig snapping caught everyone's attention away from the discussion of the twins moving. The trio looked and saw a creature move a few feet into the woods. While they tried to figure out what it was, the fact that it was cloaked in the bushes made it impossible to identify.

"You think we should run?" Cody suggested.

"We can fight whatever it is," Zack said as he picked up a stick, and Justin did the same. More rattling was heard and Zack and Justin prepared to battle whatever it was. Cody, not to be the coward, picked up a stick too and prepared to help his friends.

The creature emerged from the bushes, the three taking a step back in shock, trying to figure out what it wanted. It looked around, curiously, its grey ears perking up every few seconds at sounds in the distance. "It's a wolf," Zack finally said, causing the animal to notice them. Wagging its grey tail eagerly, it ran up to Zack, before sniffing him thoroughly.

"It's going to eat us," Cody said backing away slowly.

"Don't be afraid, Cody," Zack said petting it gently on the head.

"Yea, he's cute," Justin said walking up to it and running his hand along the wolf's furry side.

The creature jumped up and placed its upper feet on Zack's chest. "Hello boy," he said smiling. The wolf barked, knocking Zack onto his back. His two friends laughed at the wolf backed up a little bit and barked again.

"I think he wants to play," Cody said.

The animal barked again running around in a small circle, seeming to confirm Cody's suspicion. The wolf took a few steps toward the trees and looked back at the group.

"Come on, let's follow him," Justin suggested and they did. The wolf would run a few steps and look back at the friends to make sure they were still following. Due to the wolf's small size, it was able to navigate under and around plants much easier than the humans, but he would always patiently wait for the people to catch up.

"I wonder what he's leading us too," Cody said.

"Only one way to find out," his brother replied. As they went deeper into the woods, the forest got thicker with more bushes and branches for the group to avoid. The trio had several small scratches from sticks hanging down that they didn't notice. While there was some pain, it was nothing a bandage couldn't fix when they got back, so their curiosity pushed away any thoughts of turning back.

The wolf became more excited as they traveled further through the forest. His barks became louder and more frequent. "You think we're getting close?" Justin asked.

"It sounds like it," Zack said.

The wolf finally stopped moving and used his nose to point down at an object. When the trio caught up to him, they were shocked to see a person buried under several branches. He looked to be teenager with short brown hair was sprinkled with red specks.

"We have to get him out," Cody said. The three began moving the branches as fast as they could, but the after removing several, they found his chest was pinned to the ground by a limb far too heavy for the boys. A river of blood flowed out along the ground, obviously from his injuries.

"We need to get help," Justin said as the three of them finally moved all but the heaviest limb.

"I don't think we have time though," Zack said, "It looks like he could die soon. Besides, we're so deep in the woods, we wouldn't know how to get back here."

"Then what do we do?" Cody asked.

"We just have to get him out of here!"

Cody began thinking of a plan, knowing that raw strength would take to too long to free the stranger. The three couldn't even budge it, and with it planted on the stranger's chest, they dind't have much time. "I have an idea," the younger twin said. The other two looked toward him, waiting for his words of wisdom. "If we can break the branch, we can get it off him."

"Yea, but how do we do that?" Zack asked.

"You two stand on opposite ends of it and jump. If we can cause it to crack, we should be able to pull it apart. I just hope it won't hurt him any worse," Cody said.

"Well it's better than doing nothing," Zack said and he and Justin did as they were told and began jumping. After a few seconds to time their jumps, they heard the wood crack.

"Now we just have to pull it apart," Cody said, glad to see his plan work. As the heavy piece of wood began to come apart, the wolf began helping by clawing and gnawing at the crack to separate it. After several minutes of hard work, the stranger was free, but still unconscious.

"Now what do we do?" Justin asked.

The wolf crouched beside the stranger and began licking his face, causing him to stir.

"Not now Twilight," the stranger said as he slowly opened his eyes. An excited look came across the dog, as the stranger looked around at his surroundings.

"You're awake," Cody said.

The stranger started to sit up, but his injuries quickly forced him back to the ground. "They got me worse than I thought. Thanks for brining help Twilight, and thank you for helping me," he said looking to the group.

"Are you alright?" Zack asked rapidly.

"No, I was caught off guard by them. I can't stay here much longer. My friends, thank you for your help." He was breathing hard, and his body started becoming transparent.

"What happened to you?" Cody asked.

"Nightwings," was the last thing he said before his body fading into nothing. Twilight backed up with his head down. He sniffed the ground where the stranger was.

"What should we do?" Justin asked.

"We need to tell Mom about this," Cody said.

"You really think she'd believe us though? After all, this is so unbelievable I'm not even sure if it happened."

"Yeah, it does sound like something you two would make up."

The three decided that they would keep the events of the day their secret. Zack and Cody moved to the Tipton that weekend, and Justin continued with life as normal without the twins. Before long, they weren't even sure if it was real. It seemed more like a dream than anything. After all, while it was rare, they did occasionally share the same dream. Even so, it seemed so strange that it had to be more than a dream.

…

**February 14****th**** 2010 9:45 AM**

"I can't believe we forgot about something so important," Zack said after he and Cody told them the story from their childhood, only making the connection once they entered this strange realm.

"Well you can't really blame yourselves, after all you have been through it's easy to push that to the side," Bailey said.

"Yeah, but not any longer," Cody said taking a step forward into the strange land, unsure of what they would find, but they knew they didn't have much time if they were to stop the Nightwings.

* * *

**A/N: **Now that you've seen a glimpse of the past, let's move back to the present...


	2. Chapter 2: First Steps

Separated Series

_Separated but not Apart - Domino Effect - **Red** - Nova_

* * *

'_But I won't cry for yesterday__  
__There's an ordinary world__  
__Somehow I have to find__  
__And as I try to make my way__  
__To the ordinary world__  
__I will learn to survive'_

_Ordinary World, Red_

**Chapter 2: First Steps**

The five of them stood perplexed at this new world. They looked to the sky, absorbing the fact that it was tinted red instead of the blue they were used to on Earth. Several grey clouds floated overhead, a gentle wind pushing them along. A blue star shone on the horizon, basking the land in light in spite of the clouds.

Cody took a step forward, feeling the hardness of the ground press against his shoe. He gazed about him, analyzing the area for any information he could gather. It looked to be an earthy plane. No vegetation nearby nor any signs of life. A few trees in the distance, or what looked like trees. In the other direction, he saw several buildings clustered close to the horizon.

"Which way do you think we should go?" Zack asked, matching his brother's gaze.

"Well, based on what we know from the Guardians, the portal should have dropped us off about fifty miles from the castle," Aaron said. He too was entranced by the strange sights, especially the two small moons in the sky, visible between puffs of cloud.

"We don't really know which direction to go, though," Heather said.

"Maybe we should head for those houses then," Bailey suggested. "Then we can find out where we are and where to go from there."

"That's probably our best option," Cody agreed.

With that, the group started off on their trek through the barren land. Various small birds shot though the sky, cawing as they flew.

After several minutes, the newness wore off as the monotone pattern of the landscape began to take its toll, on Zack's attention span in particular.

"Can this place be any more boring?" he complained loudly. "I'm tired of walking."

"Come on suck it up," Heather replied. "We've only been walking about five minutes."

Something seemed off to Cody. Normally he'd have agreed that Zack just needed to focus on the mission at hand, but he found himself wanting to lie down and take a nap, too. They hadn't even traveled a long distance. During his time on the streets, he had gone a lot farther than this without breaking a sweat. Even when Zack was with him, they'd been able to go much farther than this without needing to rest. Perhaps something in this new world was making them tire faster. But what? Lower oxygen levels? Stronger gravity? Cody picked up a rock from the ground and dropped it, noting that that it landed in the same amount of time it would have taken on Earth.

"What was that about?" Aaron asked.

"Just testing a theory." Aaron, Heather and Bailey didn't seem to be showing any signs of exhaustion, so either they were good at hiding it (which he thought he was doing a good enough job of), or were somehow immune to the effects of this mysterious force, while he and Zack weren't.

"Well, the city doesn't look that much farther," Bailey said. "You think you can make it that far?"

Zack wanted to say no, but despite how tired he was, he knew that they didn't have much time to waste. And he was NOT going to let a girl outpace him without needing a break. "Yeah, it won't be a problem, I just wanted to make sure that you didn't need a break."

"Oh, then why are you sweating so much?"

Why he was, that much he didn't know. They hadn't been running or overexerting themselves, and it wasn't particularly warm here. It hadn't been a long walk, either. He had to admit (though not out loud) that he was exhausted. "Because Chihuahuas have freakishly long ears!" he said, resolutely aware that his statement made no sense, "So now if you don't have any more questions, let's move on."

Striding ahead, Zack took the lead while the other four just looked on in bewilderment.

After a few awkward seconds, Aaron was the one brave enough to say something. "Is he always like that?"

"Pretty much," Cody said with a shrug, and then they ran to catch up to Zack.

…

About an hour later, when they had reached what looked to be an abandoned town, the five of them decided it was time to rest. The town had about a dozen houses, all made of wood and a couple did not look structurally sound. Several animal groans filled the air, though they sounded far enough away that the group decided to ignore them. They sat, leaning against one of the buildings, and Cody grabbed some food and water from his backpack and passed them around.

"That didn't take too long," Zack sighed, trying to hide the fact that he was ready to collapse on the ground and sleep for the next 565 days.

"We still don't really know where we're going, though," Aaron said. While traveling aimlessly like this wouldn't do them much good, he knew, neither would just sitting around not knowing where anything was.

"If we can just find someone, they might be able to point us in the right direction," Cody said, racking his weary brain for a good plan.

The five of them pondered their next course of action but couldn't think of anything more productive than to keep on walking until they ran into someone or something to give them a lead. When they felt somewhat rested, they made their way back out of the old town.

No sooner had they hit the border than a horse-drawn carriage pulled up to them. All five of them tensed, preparing for a fight if necessary.

Two men sat in the carriage, one guiding the horses while the other sharpened what appeared to be a knife.

"Now this is a strange sight," the driver said.

"What is?" Cody asked, determined to probe for as much information as he could.

"Five kids walking out of El Drasia and into the Multak Desert like they were going to the park for a picnic," he said with a slight laugh.

"We have our reasons." Cody knew that the best way to find information without getting into a fight would be to blend in, something they weren't doing very well.

"Well, they must be good ones considering the closest city is about fifty kilometers away."

"Fifty!" Zack exclaimed, not sure if he could make it another five.

Cody clenched his teeth. Had Zack just blown their cover?

"You're involved with those rebels fighting the Nightwings, aren't you?" the driver asked, his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the group.

"What would make you say that?" Cody hoped that a return to confident vagueness might still work.

"Well, for one, you're in the middle of nowhere, no weapons, or anything that would lead me to believe you're a hunter, which is the only reason people head out here."

The other person in the cart drew his sword from his sheath.

"We didn't come here to fight," Cody said, holding out hope that violence could be avoided.

Aaron mentally latched onto a stone while Heather unscrewed the cap on her water bottle.

"I'm willing to believe that," the driver said. However, he made no effort to have his companion put away his sword. "As long as the war doesn't affect my business, I have no intention to fight either side. This stupid war is just pointless bloodshed if you ask me."

Cody thought of those who had died in the battles so far. He had killed so many while fighting John's men. And so many innocent victims had lost their lives during the battle on the S.S. Tipton and the massive attack on London.

"I know how you feel," Aaron said, stepping up to stand beside Cody. "War is hell."

The rest of them nodded somberly, memories of carnage and death flashing through their minds.

"Go on with whatever you're doing then, I won't stop you. I don't' really want to help you, but I can't leave a bunch of kids here like this, so if you're still around here when I head back to San Nocton I'll give you a ride."

"Thanks," Cody answered. He was relieved that they wouldn't have to walk all the way, but even so, he was worried.

"Stay safe, the beasts around here are dangerous if you aren't careful."

At this, the carriage pulled away.

"What do you think we should do?" Bailey asked once it was out of ear-shot.

"I'm not sure," Cody said. These two people were strangers, in a world apparently as consumed by war as their own. While he knew they could provide valuable information, still, he wasn't sure he could trust them – and they appeared to be trained in combat. With all five of their powers combined, they could probably defeat the two if necessary, but he wasn't willing to ignore the possibility that there was more to driver and the swordsman than they had seen.

"I think we should take him up on the offer," Zack spoke up. "We don't really know where we'd be going, and with the city so far away, it would be pointless to try finding it."

"Zack's right, we were lucky to make it here and to find them," Heather said. "We should probably just rest in one of the houses until they come back."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Cody said. Most of the houses looked dangerously unstable. A strong wind would probably be enough to knock them down.

Brushing off his brother's warnings, Zack walked up to a house, curiosity getting the best of him. He gave the door a push and wandered inside. "Looks like there's a dead animal in here," he said, noticing the creature on the ground. It looked to be about three meters long, resembling a tiger, but with more fur. It was mostly orange and had a few black spots.

Stepping over it, Zack looked though the rest of the house. The entire building was one room, probably about twice the size of his room at the Tipton, and several old dusty blankets lay on the ground, the animal covering part of one. He continued exploring, finding a couple closets that stored musty clothes that must have been as old as the house.

"What are you doing, Zack?" Cody asked from the doorway.

"Seeing what we can find out about this place."

"Anything?"

"It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time," Zack said with a shrug of his shoulders as he headed back to the door. On his way, he inadvertently stepped on the animal's tail.

The beast stirred, emitting an angry, ominous growl.

Zack froze.

"I thought it was dead," he protested as the beast rose, nearly matching the twins in height. It swiped a gigantic claw at him, its nails as big as his head, but all he could do was stare, petrified.

Cody registered his brother's fear and tapped into his super-speed to tackle Zack to the ground before the beast could hurt him.

The animal pounced at them, and the twins rolled away in opposite directions, but this time a claw grazed Zack's arm. He gasped in pain as a streak of blood seeped through his sleeve and tried to summon his sword. But he wasn't fast enough and the foe launched itself at him again, three-inch teeth bared and fire blazing in its yellow eyes.

Instinctively Cody jumped on the animal's back, distracting it long enough for Zack to dart out of the way. With a deadly roar, the beast flipped Cody off its back, slamming him into the wall, then lunged straight at him. One powerful swipe of its claw sent Cody flying through the flimsy wall and inflicted a deep gash to his shoulder. The creature leapt through the hole, ready to finish off its prey, but was met with a decisive blow from boulder.

Cody looked up to see Aaron raising the boulder over the creature's head, primed to strike again. Heather ran over to Cody and helped him to his feet while Bailey shot several fireballs at the monster, causing it to growl and shudder with each impact. It charged at the elementals, but Zack jumped through the hole and delivered a powerful kick to its stomach.

After quickly sharpening a side of the boulder with his powers Aaron plunged it into the beast's back, pinning it to the ground. Crimson blood spilled out as it howled, thrashing wildly, trying to loosen the spear. Aaron clenched his teeth against guilt from seeing the creature in so much pain. But knowing that it could very well kill his friends if he didn't finish it off strengthened his resolve. A slow minute passed, the creature growing weaker until it succumbed to its fate and drew its last breath as it crumpled to the ground.

"You okay, Cody?" Zack rushed over to his brother.

Cody clutched his shoulder, drawing heavy breaths as the pain throbbed through his body. He had endured worse, much worse – not that that could stop the pain any. "I will be," he managed, struggling to focus his powers to reverse the damage to his shoulder.

But before he could, dozens of growls shattered the stillness.

At least ten creatures surrounded their group, copies of the tiger-like beast they had defeated moments ago. The beasts circled the humans, jaws bared and tongues hanging out, drooling over their tasty prey. Soft growls echoed between them.

There would be no chance to flee. The elementals began to harness their powers while Zack stayed by Cody's side, ready to protect his brother if anything got close.

The creatures lunged in a single terrifying blur of teeth and claws – yet before any could strike, bolts of red lightning crackled from the sky, knocking them back like a bowling ball slamming into the pins.

Cody glanced up in shock to see a female Nightwing floating overhead. "Guys, power down," he said, loudly enough for his friends to hear, while hoping the Nightwing wouldn't. It was clear to him this Nightwing didn't see them as her enemy, and he didn't want to do anything to change that.

The Nightwing descended, landing in the middle of the group. She glanced at them, assessing the situation. "Is everyone okay?" she asked, a gentle worry filling her voice. This surprised Cody. From what he'd heard, the Nightwings were a vicious people, but this one seemed nothing like the rumors.

"My brother's hurt," Zack said.

"Looks like we have a bigger problem now," she said as the pack of creatures advanced once more. She drew a sword and deflected a claw before blasting it away with another burst of red lightning. Two more quickly bore down on her, but she took to the sky, then rocketed back to the ground, her sword cleaving through them. They let loose yowls of pain before collapsing, overpowered by their injuries.

Three of the monsters set their sights on the twins, but the Nightwing was quick to stop them. She summoned a ring of black fire that encircled and consumed them, reducing their once-vicious bodies to ash. The remaining four, now aware that the Nightwing was far more dangerous than the teens, charged at her.

Instead of hitting her, they collided with each other, missing her by several meters.

Using their confusion to her advantage, the Nightwing obliterated them with a mighty flourish of lightning and fire that reddened the whole sky. "Those quarons won't be bothering you anymore," she said decisively.

"Wow," Heather said, amazed by this Nightwing's power.

"We're sure lucky you came by," Aaron said. Keeping their powers a secret would be by far the best strategy. While he understood the Nightwings were powerful, how effortlessly this one had just defeated the monsters surpassed his imagination.

"Let me see your shoulder," the Nightwing said as she walked over to Cody, her black angel-like wings gently swaying back and forth.

Zack held onto Cody tightly, uncomfortable with an enemy being so close to his younger twin.

The same fear seized Cody. He fell back a step.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I promise." She smiled and Cody sensed a  
reassuring tone in her voice. Looking into her coal-colored eyes, he thought that maybe he could trust her. Her face, while paler than what he would expect for a normal person, showed a warm smile. He wasn't up for a fight, and if she wasn't an enemy, he felt he should accept her help, though part of his mind yelled that this was a bad idea.

"What are you doing?" Cody finally asked hesitantly.

"I can cast one of my spells on the wound to seal it back up."

"Okay," he said, only half-certain of this stranger.

A reddish black glow emanated from the Nightwing's palm as she held it a few inches from his face. Sparks began flowing from her palm into Cody's shoulder. A sharp stabbing pain coursed through his body.

The dimensional screamed from the sensation, of being simultaneously electrocuted and set on fire, overloaded his nerve receptors. He fell to his knees, pushing the Nightwing's hand away.

"What did you do it him?" Zack demanded angrily.

The Nightwing backed away. Zack latched onto his sword with his mind. Screw keeping their cover, if anyone hurt Cody, he would kill them.

"Someone not used to that kind of magic might experience some adverse effects from the spell, but I've never seen them cause that much pain," she said, retreating another step. Her black eyes softened apologetically, but Zack wasn't ready to buy into this act. Not yet, at least.

He looked to his brother, whom Bailey helped to stand. He saw the pain filled look in Cody's eyes. After all they had been through, he knew Cody wasn't one to cry out because of a little pain. At one time perhaps, but not anymore.

Hesitantly Cody moved his arm, feeling the blood freshly clumped around the wound. But the gash itself had disappeared. The pain had mostly faded, too. "The pain is gone now. I'm fine."

Relieved at this, Zack lowered his guard. "Good," he said, distaste for the Nightwing still evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry it hurt so badly," she said with enough emotion to make them consider she was serious. "I'll go get some medical supplies from the castle so I can treat all of you."

"Thank you," Bailey answered.

The Nightwing extended her hand and a red portal appeared, a powerful sensation of magic energy filling the air. "I'd take you with me so our doctors could help you, but I'm afraid of the effect it would have on those unaccustomed to our magic."

"We understand and appreciate all that you are doing anyway," Bailey said politely.

"By the way, my name is Angie. What are yours'?"

"Cole," Cody instantly answered, signaling to the others to also use aliases. If word got out of whom they were, their secret would be ruined.

"Dylan," Zack said, realizing how natural the name sounded.

"Debby," Bailey said, thinking about one of her sisters.

"Scarlet," Heather said, remembering a friend from back home.

"George," Aaron said, the first name to pop into his mind.

"Alright, I'll be seeing you soon," Angie said. With a gentle smile, she stepped into the portal.

* * *

**A/N:** Let's see, a new world, a battle with monsters, Cody getting hurt and then being saved by one of their enemies. I'd say that's a good start to one of my stories. Thanks to Elianna22 for betaing this.

And for those of you wondering how the first chapter of this was written and published before even Domino Effect was, I'll put my explanation here. Long ago, I had a story idea, to explore the history of the Nightwings that I first thought of for my 2009 Halloween collection entry, which I decided to post the first chapter of which was chapter 1 here. However, even though I got a ton of reviews for the first chapter, I wasn't able to write more, but one review I got for it stuck out to me and sent my mind spinning with ideas. Ellie said, "I'm already wondering if this story will link up to Separated somehow, and if the mysterious injured fading stranger will eventually show up in that story." It turns out, she was right, and I didn't even know it for a while, and it was that review that inspired me to link my stories together and tie in Unclouded by Hate until this story.

Also, due to the fact that the bigger story is being told through multiple fics some covering the same timeline, I'll post how they go together here. Those in the same line directly follow the others in that line, while those on other lines tell a different perspective. *** **means the story doesn't cover that time, while **' **means that it does. Nova and Black aren't released yet, but I have some ideas for those I hope you will like. If you're confused, ask me, and I'll try explaining it better.

Separated but not Apart - Domino Effect - Red - Nova.***

****************''''''''''''''''-Unclouded by Hate-''''''''''''''''''

*********************************'''''-Black-'''''****


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Night

_For those doubts that swirl all around us,__  
__For those lives that tear at the seams,__  
__We know,__  
__We're not what we've seen,_

_-Marching On, Onerepublic _

**Chapter 3:**Into the Night

The Nightwing looked back toward the group, her eyes lingering on Cody for a second. "I'll be back soon," Angie said and with that, she stepped into the portal, leaving the five wondering what to do next.

On one hand, they were grateful for her help, and after seeing how she defeated the tiger-like monsters, they wanted someone like that on their side. However, she was also a Nightwing—the ones they had come here to stop. Cody moved his arm gingerly, assessing how far he could move it, and how much pain it caused. His arm wasn't what he'd call fine, but it wasn't in too bad of shape. No more bleeding and the pain was bearable. While he wanted to thoroughly clean and treat the wound, along with learning about the Nightwing's medicine, he knew it wasn't necessary.

"Should we wait for her?" Aaron asked, voicing the question everyone's mind.

A silence fell upon the group. Heather tilted her head, unsure what to make of this. She liked things to be black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. This wasn't the case here.

"Maybe," she finally said. Why couldn't things could go back to being a simple battle of good and evil, where you didn't have to figure out which side a person was on? Angie had helped them, so that made her a good guy—but she was a Nightwing, which also made her a bad guy.

"How's your arm?" Zack asked Cody. If she had truly healed him, that would make her a good Nightwing…right?

"Not perfect but I can live with it."

An all-too-familiar roar filled the air, making the decision for them.

"Um, we should probably find shelter before more of the quarons come after us," Bailey said.

"I'm with you on that," Zack said.

"We shouldn't head back to the houses, though," Cody said. "Others probably live in them."

"Where should we go then?" Heather asked. Out in the open they would be easy targets for the beasts.

"Let me try something," Aaron said, kneeling on the ground. He placed his hand against the solid rock, closed his eyes, and evened his breaths, knowing he'd need to concentrate perfectly if this was to work.

"What are you doing?" Heather asked curiously.

"Shut up," he said softly, striving to use his closed eyes to 'see' the rock around them. Normally in cities there was too much underground construction, plus power lines and various buildings that got in the way. He'd had some success when he went up to the mountains to try this technique, and if he was right, the consistency of the ground was similar enough here. He studied the ground, sensing the houses overhead to the west, and then turned his focus to the east. It seemed to be another level area, but something felt off. Upon mentally examining it, he noticed that there was a hole in the ground, and furthermore, it seemed to be evenly constructed, possibly hand made, but out of pure stone. Curiosity begged that he investigate it for himself.

He lifted his head to look eastward. "There's some kind of underground house about a mile away."

"How did you know that?" Heather asked.

"I was able to use my powers to see through the ground."

"Wow, able to throw huge boulders around and even sense things so far away," Zack said. "I'm jealous."

"It's nothing really," he said shyly before taking the lead to guide the others to the underground shelter. While details were hard to make out from so far away, it seemed to have resulted from unnatural causes and, he guessed, it had been made not too long ago.

As they traveled Cody kept a constant eye out for any other monsters or Nightwings. Zack stayed beside him, worried that each noise in the distance was another threat. If there was something after him, Zack was going to make sure that whatever it was, they wouldn't be caught off guard. After so many attacks, his concern seemed warranted.

"You two okay?" Bailey asked, noticing how they kept looking around.

"Yeah, we just want to make sure no one sneaks up on us," Cody explained. He shot Zack a quick glance, not surprised they would have similar thoughts at a time like this. Cody had learned to be cautious, to be wary of any suspicious noise. Awareness could and had been the difference between life and death. The streets were rough, he'd had no way of knowing whether a mysterious stranger walking by was just going on his way, or was after Cody's money…or something much more valuable. Most of the time it was the former, but being cautious had saved him numerous times.

A black figure skirted across the sky, instantly catching Cody's eye. Those black wings could only belong to a Nightwing, but it was too far up to make out any details. He swallowed deeply, thankful to see it pass overhead ignoring them.

However, about a dozen Nightwings soon followed, resembling a flock of birds.

"Should we be worried?" Bailey asked.

"They didn't seem to notice us," Cody said, "They probably just think we're some travelers, but maybe…" He trailed off, hoping his theory was just his paranoia taking over.

"What?" Zack prodded, knowing that if Cody had a thought, they should consider it.

"Maybe they saw us, and are getting reinforcements."

"Maybe Angie was just sent to find us and now the rest of them are looking for us," Bailey added. "That could be why she wanted us to stay there."

The others' eyes widened at this possibility. Not only did they have the quarons to worry about, but they saw that Nightwings could be far more dangerous.

"I really don't feel up to fighting an army of them," Zack complained.

"How much farther until we reach that place?" Heather asked.

"Another five minutes if my guess is right." Aaron bent down again, trying to pinpoint the exact location now that they were closer. "Yeah, not much farther now."

"Let's hurry up and get there before Angie or her friends find us," Zack said.

"Okay, follow me," Aaron said and broke into a run. The others ran to follow him—after all, time was not likely to be on their side—but the twins soon found themselves falling behind the others. Not wanting to slow the others down any, they tapped into their powers to catch up. They looked to each other, noticing the distorting of the dimensions radiating from one another, and wondered how they could have become so weak that they needed their super-speed just to keep up with normal people.

After a couple minutes, Aaron stopped the group, and just as he thought, they had reached the shelter. A staircase appeared to be built into the ground, but a giant slab of rock blocked its entrance. Aaron placed his hand upon it, trying to detect what was going on, and then it made perfect sense. He easily pushed the stone door into the wall, opening the passage. "Interesting," he remarked, both perplexed and fascinated by what he saw. "This was obviously made by an earth elemental."

"Are they still here?" Cody asked.

"Only one way to find out," Heather said as she stepped in front of Aaron. "MISTER ELEMENTAL, IF YOU'RE HERE SAY SOMETHING!" she yelled, causing her brother to want to slap his hand over her mouth, Zack to chuckle, Cody to worry, and Bailey to feel a mix of all three.

When no response came, Heather shrugged her shoulders. "Guess no one's home."

"That, or they know we're coming so they're just waiting for us," Aaron countered.

"I didn't think about that," she confessed.

Aaron drew an earthen sword from the ground in case of danger. "Let's check out this place, but be on your guard," Aaron said, leading the way.

Heather and Bailey followed suit, summoning water and fire around them, respectively. The twins were the last to go in, latching onto their powers and ready to trigger them at a millisecond's notice.

As they ventured into the shelter, sunlight began to fade, but fortunately several gas lamps, lanterns and candles adorned the place. Bailey lit them and picked up a lantern, illuminating their path. They discovered the shelter was built very much like a house, divided into several rooms. One had a wooden table along with what seemed to be pieces of silverware placed on it. A strange stone box sat at the end of the room, and upon opening the top, Aaron discovered that it was lined with ice and contained some type of meat.

"It's like a freezer," Cody said.

"Yeah, food in there, too," Zack added.

"Look over here," Bailey said, entering one of the rooms to discover several make-shift beds on the floor. Off to the side were three piles of clothes, one neatly organized and the other two a jumbled mess of fabric.

Upon spotting the clothes, Heather ran over to see what she could learn about these people or the fashions of this world. She held up one of the garments, a dress that went down to about her knees.

"Maybe we should take some of these to fit in," Cody suggested.

"Good idea." Aaron said as he moved on to the next room. Unlike the other rooms, this one was a lot larger, possibly 30 meters long and at least 15 wide. A number of lanterns hung on the walls, which Bailey lit to give them a better picture of the room. The walls were smooth, while the floor had a number of small craters, along with several boulders lining it. Bending down, Cody noticed several charred pieces of earth. Other than that, the room seemed to be empty.

"This place is big," Zack noted.

"It must have been a powerful elemental to make something this big and stable," Aaron said, knowing his powers weren't even close to those of whoever had crafted this place. A fearful thought occurred to him—what if this elemental came back and found the intruders? Surely they would not be happy.

"I wonder what they made this place for?" Bailey pondered.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't mind taking a 27 hour nap in that bedroom," Zack said.

"Sleep might not be a bad idea," Cody added. He longed to just collapse right there and then, but didn't want to complain as much as Zack. He had to put the mission above his personal comforts. There were too many lives at stake to rest whenever he was tired. He had to carry on, no matter how hard it was. There was no other option.

"Then we can get up and head back to the town to meet the hunters in the morning," Bailey added. After all, there wasn't much else they could do now.

"Sounds good to me," Zack said, heading back to the bedroom.

"Any objections?" Cody asked.

"Sounds good to me, too," Bailey said and the other two nodded.

Taking this as his cue, Cody hurried to the bedroom. When he entered, he saw that Zack had already tossed his backpack aside and changed into his pajamas, and was getting under the covers of one of the beds.

"'Night, Cody," Zack said as he closed his eyes.

"'Night, Zack," he responded, though by the time the words reached Zack's ears, he was already fast asleep.

Cody set his backpack beside Zack's and pulled his pajamas out of it. As he changed, he dwelled on the fact that he was going to sleep in a different world than the one he'd woken up in. His scientific mind relished the thought—he had seen a world that even the greatest scientists didn't know existed. At the same time, this creeped him out. However, as soon as he saw the bed and anticipation of sleep flooded his body, all thoughts left his mind. He threw one of the blankets over himself, not even caring about the sanitary implications of the germs that could be on it. As he closed his eyes, the candles in the room went out and he heard someone say, "Goodnight Cody."

But before he could respond, he too fell asleep.

…

The other three sat at the table in what they assumed was the kitchen.

"I guess fighting that quaron really took a lot out of them," Bailey said. She was amazed that the person who'd fought off dozens of monsters to save her on the ship could be brought down so easily. But, she figured, the twins were probably more affected by shifting dimensions than the others were, since they were dimensionals.

"You think Cody will be okay?" Heather asked. "I mean, with a Nightwing healing him and all?"

"I hope so," Aaron said, at a loss here. With what he knew of the Nightwings' magic, it wouldn't have surprised if they had some power to poison a human and disguise it as healing. He hoped that Angie hadn't done this to Cody, and that the twins would be okay after a good night's sleep. "We can only let him rest and hope for the best."

"I wish Adian was here to help him," Heather said, tears building in her eyes. With all her heart, Heather wanted Adian not only to heal Cody, but alas, that couldn't be. She hated herself for bringing up such a painful memory, yet she couldn't just forget about such a good friend.

"I'll take the watch for the night, you two get some sleep," Aaron said to change the subject.

"You need your rest, too," Heather said.

"I'll be okay."

"How about we take turns?" Bailey suggested.

"Yeah, in a couple hours wake one of us up and we'll take over," Heather added.

"Okay," Aaron said with a sigh. He knew she was right; he was tired too, too tired to argue with his sister about this. "Get some sleep," he said, heading for the staircase while Heather and Bailey got their own beds ready.

**A/N: **Well, this chapter was going to be longer, but I decided to split it up. The next one is almost done, I just need to add in another scene. Thanks to Elianna22 for her hard work betaing this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4: Not Alone

_'And after all that we've been through_  
_And after all we left in pieces_  
_I still believe our lives have just begun_  
_'Cause now the past can be outrun_  
_And I know you are the reason_  
_I still believe the best is yet to come'_

_Best Is Yet To Come, Red_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Not Alone**

After agreeing to take the watch for the night, Aaron made himself a chair from the stone around him and stared up at the sky, comparing it to what he saw on Earth. The blue star had begun to sink, setting the sky ablaze with blues and violets against the shades of red. It truly was nothing like a sunset back at home. Not even the sun dropping behind the majestic mountains of New Mexico could compare to this spectacle. He gazed at one of the moons, which had a pinkish tint. It captivated him. As the sun descended further, stars lit up the now blackening expanse. Were any of those stars his home? Perhaps, at this moment, one of his friends was looking up at the stars, looking at this very planet, just as he was. His mind couldn't fully wrap itself around such a fascinating possibility, but it certainly intrigued him.

He let out a yawn and looked at his watch. It read 7:30. He wasn't sure how long the days were on this planet, but two-hour watch shifts should be good, giving everyone at least four hours of sleep. If the night was longer, they could rotate. And once the sun rose again, they could make their way back to the town.

"Hey," a soft voice called, breaking Aaron out of his star-gazing trance. He turned to see Heather standing there, leaning against the wall of the subterranean staircase.

"It's only been an hour," he said, checking the time on his watch. "You should get some sleep."

"Maybe I should," she agreed, taking a seat beside him, obviously choosing to ignore his suggestion.

They sat together staring at the stars, an easy silence between them.

How had things had changed so much? Aaron wondered. Here they were, sitting outside, staring at the stars, something he and Heather never had time to do at home. He wanted to tell his sister to go to bed, under the authority of being the older brother, but that had never worked before. He'd have to get her to think the idea was her own. "What made you want to come out here?" he asked.

"Don't know, I guess I just couldn't sleep. I mean, this place is so different, I just couldn't get comfortable."

"I know what you mean. It's like there is a dark aura about this place." He wasn't sure quite how to describe it. A dark presence seemed to surround them. Not strong enough for him to constantly notice, but still there, nagging at him whenever he wanted to relax.

"You scared?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah." His answer was barely above a whisper. He tried not to let it show, but he really was afraid. It was his job as the older responsible sibling to keep everything under control and face these enemies without fear. However, he knew his sister would see through a lie here. "We weren't able to stop David when we battled him before, and nearly died both times. Why wouldn't I be scared?"

"We survived, though."

"Only through luck. I don't want to rely on luck again." He paused for a moment, taking in his failures during the recent battles. "This is so not what I signed up for." He shook his head. He wasn't strong enough to save the world from the Nightwings. True, he had some cool powers that could help in a battle, but he'd seen how weak he was when he faced elementals who knew what they were doing. A few weeks of training with Altinia weren't enough to make up for years of preparation.

"We just have to win. It can't be that hard. Besides don't you want to do something cool like saving the world?"

"Yeah, I just wish it was that simple." Finding out he had powers had been an amazing turn of events; that was for sure. Explaining to his dad how a tree randomly fell on their shed was another story. Despite the problems that came with his powers, he had to admit they were fun. "We don't know how we can beat these Nightwings, and we aren't even sure who are or aren't our enemies."

"It's hard." Heather liked things to be in black and white, where she could easily see the difference between good and evil. Sadly, this wasn't the case here. Yet she had to figure it out. If they weren't able to identify their enemies, it could be the death of all of them. And if they didn't secure the aid of an ally when they could, things would be that much harder. "We have to try, though," she said, trying to encourage her brother. Like him, she wanted to return home and use her powers for fun stuff like tormenting him or finding ways to make chores easier or causing random downpours on teachers/people she didn't like. But for now, they had something more important to fight for.

"I know," Aaron said. "We knew this wouldn't be easy."

"Altinia made sure we got that point across," Heather said, making her brother laugh. "I'm sure I wasn't the only one to want to get revenge on her."

"Yes, but I was the one smart enough to know it would end badly."

"It was so worth it."

"At least you're getting to be a superhero like you wanted," Aaron said.

"Apparently they didn't get the memo that the heroes always win though," she said. Aaron was right—she had always wanted to be a hero with her powers. No one could stand against the power of water. At least that's what she thought until she tried. There was that one kid at school who always picked on people, and even though they weren't her friends, she wanted to do something about it. She really hated Noah. So one day she donned a mask, got out her old Halloween costume, and waited for him to round a corner where no one could see and attacked him. She wasn't quite sure how it happened, but he managed to get enough distance from her to call for help, and then a Nightwing swooped down and attacked _her_. She wasn't ready for something like that and was quickly defeated, though luckily wasn't hurt badly (other than her pride). When Aaron and her parents asked, she explained that the bruises and cuts were from a skateboarding accident.

Now, here she was in the Nightwings' realm. She'd never told her brother about that battle, knowing he'd just lecture her about rushing into something, blowing their secret, and all that stuff. While she knew she had grown stronger since then, if she couldn't defeat a single Nightwing, did she stand a chance against an army of them?

"Well, the heroes never have it easy," Aaron said, struggling for something to say to cheer his sister up.

"I guess we won't be the exception to that rule then." A yawn unwillingly emitted from her mouth.

"You should go back to sleep."

"I guess you're right." She really was tired, and just talking to Aaron and journeying through her memories relaxed her. "Wake me up when you get tired."

"I will."

With that, she stepped back into the underground shelter.

…

**Black.**

All around.

That was everything.

He gazed around, seeking something, or someone, or anything else.

Nothing was there.

He took a step forward; the dark didn't like that. It told him to stop. He didn't want to listen. He kept walking, one foot in front of the other. The darkness didn't like it. It tried to grab him, hold him down.

He fought it. It choked him.

His feet left him, on the ground he fell. Face in the dirt.

He tried pushing himself back up; the dark held him down. He pushed harder, faster.

The dark weakened.

He had won, he was back up. He smiled, a white light across his arm.

But the dark hadn't lost.

It struck him again.

Harder.

Faster.

Angrier.

Down it drove him.

Into the blackest of dark.

why he cried out.

_To Strangle the__**Light**_

…

Zack shot up in bed, eyes darting frantically, terrified of the darkness of the room. He had to get out. Had to run from it, find some light.

His eyes locked upon the candle in the other room.

His heart calmed. It was okay; there was light now. Not much, but still some. He turned beside him to see Cody looking up at him, fear in his eyes clear even in the near darkness. "Z-Zack?" he asked.

"You have that dream, too?"

Cody sat up and nodded, the darkness of the room a thousand times brighter than the darkness of the dream. He held his head in his hand, closing his eyes, trying to calm himself and to remember it was just a dream. A very realistic horrifying nightmare, but still, just a dream.

"You okay?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, just freaked me out a bit." Cody took several heavy breaths. He'd had nightmares before—everyone had—but this one seemed different. How…he wasn't quite sure. Knowing he had to get it out of his head, he got up and walked out into the kitchen, careful not to awake the sleeping girls. Zack followed him, for the same reason, and also wanting to make sure Cody was okay.

"Why do you think we keep having the same dream?" Zack asked to get the conversation started.

"Maybe it's our twin-telepathy or something." To Cody, this seemed like a reasonable guess. "That or a different type of our dimensional powers."

"Yeah, but it's also strange how it's happened all of a sudden. Like back at home, we never had the same dream."

"We weren't fighting for our lives then, either."

Zack was about to ask why shared dreams hadn't happened when they were traveling during the summer —after all, they had been in a number of fights—this would just lead to more questions without answers. "Maybe," he said as he sat against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest. "I just wish we knew more."

Cody took a seat beside his brother. "You scared?"

Where had this come from? Zack hadn't really thought about being scared. True, he'd been worried when that monster attacked Cody and he was disturbed by the dream—but was he scared? They had faced a lot before, John, Hakalahs, many others, so why would this be any different? They would win like they always did.

At least, that's what he always told himself.

There was no point thinking about the alternative, because that was what he was most afraid of. He'd seen how fast people die in war. Adian had died in a fluke. Moseby had been killed and no one had even known. And Woody had perished just like hundreds of others during the invasions, while countless soldiers had given their lives protecting the city of London. Who was to say that he wouldn't be next? That he wouldn't lose anymore friends? That they would win at all?

"Yeah, I guess I am," he concluded finally.

"I think that might be good," Cody said, looking outside through the staircase.

"What do you mean?"

"We're scared because we think something bad might happen, so that makes us do everything we can to stop it."

"I guess that makes sense. I just don't want to lose anyone else."

"Me neither," Cody said. He glanced down and shook his head. "I can't make anymore dumb mistakes and let myself get hurt again."

"Hey, that's what we're here for, buddy." Zack placed his hand on his twin's shoulder.

"But what if next time you need me to help and I mess up again?"

"You won't let that happen."

"How do you know?"

"Because I fought alongside you more times than I can count, and you've never let me down when I needed you, even though I needed saving a lot. And I know you won't start letting me down now." If there was one thing Zack knew for sure, it was that Cody would be there for him no matter what, even if it cost Cody everything to do so.

"You really think that?"

"Dude, I know that. If something happens to me, I know you'll be there, and if something happens to you, just remember I'll be there. We're not alone in this either."

Cody smiled. In his mind he knew this was true. Convincing his heart was another matter. He'd seen people get hurt because he hadn't been strong enough. Anton had died because he hadn't been able to stop John in time. Hakalahs had nearly killed Bailey because he wasn't strong enough. While Cody knew he had friends to protect him, at the same time that also meant he had to protect them.

"Thanks, Zack."

The starlight from outside caught Cody's attention. He'd found himself drawn to the vastness of space, how such small dots represented an object often larger than the sun. "Let's see what this place looks like at night."

"Sounds good."

The two of them walked up the staircase to find Aaron gazing across the horizon, trying his best to stay awake.

"What are you doing up here?" Cody asked.

"I volunteered to take the watch for the night."

"Sorry I just went to sleep on you like that," Cody said.

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure that battle really took a lot out of you."

"Want me to take over for you so you can get some sleep?" Zack asked. Zack knew Cody was about to do the same, and he was going to make sure Cody got the rest he needed.

"Sure, thanks."

"Not a problem; we all need to get some sleep," Zack said, giving his brother a quick look to discourage him from asking to take the watch instead.

However, before they could make their way to back to the bedroom, Zack spotted people in the distance approaching them. "Guys, we have company."

Cody and Aaron hurried back up the steps, and sure enough, two people were walking straight toward the base. They looked to be about 18 years old; the guy who was in front had spiky pink hair and black eyes, his outfit consisting of a black waistcoat with gold trimmings over his chest and short white trousers that stopped at his knees. Behind him was a dark brown-haired, brown-eyed girl in black jeans and a white shirt lined with blue trim. The two were talking animatedly, but they were still too far away for their conversation to be audible.

"Should we should wake up Heather and Bailey?" Cody asked.

"Nah, we can handle this if they're a problem," Zack said.

As the three of them stood watching, a feeling of trepidation building in them, the pink-haired teen formed a fireball in his hand as he continued down the hill.

* * *

**A/N: **And now time for the fun part of the story. I've started the next chapter, so it may or may not be a while. And I wonder how many people picked up the reference to another one of my stories here...


	5. Chapter 5: Hot Like Fire

**A/N: Thanks to Wyntirsno for betaing and to WaldoJeffers for encouraging me to get back to this story. I almost forgot how much fun I have writing it.**

_'Everybody, with your fists raised high_  
_Let me hear your battle cry tonight_  
_Stand beside, or step aside_  
_We're on the frontline'_

Pillar, Frontline

**Chapter 5: Hot Like Fire**

Zack's body tensed as the two came down the hill. He wasn't going to let himself get caught off guard again. No, he'd be ready to take whatever these two threw at him.

The boy in front had an angry scowl across his face, as he continued down the hill, his hands balled into flaming fists. "What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled. The fire in his hand grew larger and brighter, making them realize this could be a powerful elemental.

"We're not here to fight," Cody said, hoping a battle could be avoided, but had a feeling this elemental wasn't going to listen to reason.

"Yeah, you just happened to find our base and break into it."

"Let's teach them a lesson Natsu," the female said channeling wind around her.

Before Cody could respond, the fire elemental shot a giant fireball at the three, but Aaron brought up a large stone shield to block the fire. However, as Aaron lowered the shield so he could see his enemy, the fire elemental charged at them, flames still shooting from his hands. The twins jumped back to dodge the fire, and Aaron brought up rock all around him to block the attack, but the intensity of the flames were still too much for him, even starting to make the stone melt. Seeing the danger their friend was under, the twins ran at Natsu, using their speed to dodge the fire and Cody kicked him away causing him to land on his face.

The elemental quickly got back up, looking angrier than before. "You won't get me that easily." He shot another blast of fire at them, which Aaron blocked once more. Knowing that they couldn't keep defending, Aaron went on the offense, shooting rock spikes at Natsu's feet, but Natsu used his fire to propel himself into the air to dodge them. He then breathed down a powerful stream of fire at Aaron which was too wide to dodge and too close to block. Cody saw this and ran at Aaron, grabbing him and getting to two out of range of the fire just in time.

Natsu landed, a frustrated look across his face. Between Aaron's power to manipulate the ground and the twins ability to move faster than he could follow, he had his hands full. A smile spread across his face; this would be fun.

Zack charged at Natsu, seeing that he was off guard while gazing at Cody and Aaron. He pushed his body to its limit, and ran as fast as he could, though right as he was about to strike, he was blown to the side. "Remember to watch your back Natsu," the girl said.

"Shut up Reney I got this."

"Sure you do," she said with a roll of her eyes, "But I want to share in the fun."

"Whatever, just don't get in my way."

"Let's hit them when they're arguing," Cody whispered to Aaron.

"Got it; hit him as hard as you can when I give the signal."

Aaron fired several more rocks at Natsu while Cody sat back and waited for his chance. Reney deflected the boulders away before they could strike and Natsu used the opening to shoot a stream of fire at the two.

Cody once again grabbed Aaron and got them out of range of enemy fire but not before Reney could shoot a blast of wind at them, knocking Cody off his feet causing the two of them to roll along the ground before landing against the mountain. Natsu then fired a monstrous wave of fire at the two, which was too wide for them to get away from. Seeing this, Aaron brought up a wall of earth around the two of them protecting them again, at least for the moment. The flames continued to pound at the rock, melting it, the intensity of the heat making them feel like their bodies were going to melt.

Zack saw he had to help his friends so he dislodged his body from the cliff he found himself a part of. The fire elemental was strong, possibly as powerful as David was, but he didn't appear to have any dimensional powers, so Zack thought he should be able to out run him and take him down, especially with him occupied. Reney would be the problem though; she could keep him away with her wind, which was incredibly difficult to see and therefore dodge. He couldn't get up close easily, and he didn't have any ranged attacks either.

Though, he could always come up with more creative solutions.

Seeing that his foes seemed to forget about him, he broke several stones out of the rock around him and ran at the elementals. Placing one of the baseball sized rocks in his back pocket, he threw the other one has fast as he could at Reney, but she noticed it in time to dodge it. Just as he planned. This gave Zack the opening he needed to kick Natsu in the side, forcing him to release control of the fire.

Reney wasted no time in countering Zack's attack though, blowing several gusts of wind at him to try knocking him off his feet, but he managed to get out of the way of those in time. However, she also began whipping up a cyclone around her, spinning the air faster until Zack lost his footing and fell face first into the ground, but didn't not stay there for long as Reney's cyclone soon lifted him up and was about to fling him into a mountain, but the wind suddenly stopped.

Zack looked back, seeing Reney on the ground, looking quite angry at the stone now surrounding her legs. He then saw Aaron standing confidently, and raising a large boulder above Reney, ready to finish off this annoying foe.

Natsu was far from defeated and rejoined the battle, sending a skyscraper-sized wall of flame careening at Aaron. Seeing the danger, Cody ran to aid Aaron again, but Reney cut him off with a wall of wind, which also accelerated the fire. Aaron tried raising another wall of stone to block the attack, but he didn't have enough time to make it strong enough so it quickly crumbled under the blaze.

As the fire was just about to strike Aaron, it jumped into the air, missing him completely and crashing to the ground behind him. Aaron looked around, shocked to find that his only injuries were a few charred hairs.

The five warriors turned and saw that Heather and Bailey had emerged from the shelter, Bailey's orb glowing red along with fire covering her hands, while Heather stood beside her, water hovering around her body, ready to strike at a second's notice. "Sheesh, can't a girl get some sleep?" Heather asked, glaring at Aaron.

"More of them," Natsu said taking a heavy breath while Reney stood beside him.

"Think we should go get her?"

"Oh hell no. That would ruin the fun."

The battled lulled for a moment, each side waiting to see what the other was planning. With foes like this, leaving any spot open could be fatal.

Cody ran a thousand scenarios through his mind, thinking of each of his teams' strengths and weaknesses. He knew Zack would have to get close to attack, something that would be nearly impossible here; Aaron had the best defensive capabilities in a battle like this; Heather could counter the fire, but had little to do against Reney's control of the wind; Bailey had the most destructive power, though fighting fire with fire head on would just lead to a stalemate. Although, a stalemate could be just what they needed.

"Aaron," Cody whispered. "As soon as Bailey attacks, shoot a boulder at Reney."

Aaron wasn't quite sure what Cody's plan was but he knew that fighting without one could end badly so he just nodded his head in response.

"Bailey, hit them with your best shot!" Cody shouted, and she responded by building up as much fire around her as possible before launching it at the two elementals.

Seeing this, Aaron brought forth a rock at least a meter in diameter and rocketed it at Reney.

Cody then used his speed to get beside Zack, knowing that their speed would be key for going in for the kill. "Bring out your sword and take down Reney, I'll go for Natsu."

With both the fire and stone flying at the two, Natsu jumped in front of the fire, just as Cody planned. He knew how proud Natsu was of his power, and that would demand he challenge Bailey head-on.

Seeing that, he ran after Natsu, with Zack right behind him going after Reney. With Reney distracted from the boulder, she wouldn't have the time to avoid Zack, and there was no way Natsu would be able to get out of the way of Cody's time blasts.

As the fire approached Natsu, instead of deflecting or countering the attack, as Cody would have thought, Natsu instead took it in his own hands, and started inhaling the flames. Cody stood still for a second, wondering what this meant, but threw concerns to the side, knowing now was not the time to hesitate. He tried gathering his power in his hands when he was about 4 meters away, but as he did, he found he couldn't latch onto them. His eyes went wide with shock, racking his mind for the answers he did not have, so much so that he didn't notice Natsu's eating of the flames made him more powerful, and the twin soon had a giant fireball rushing at him. Feeling the heat about to reach him, Cody harnessed his speed as best he could, but it was only a fraction of normal and he could not get away.

Luckily Heather dissipated the fire around him with a blast of water, but using what little speed he had drained him of the rest of his power.

Zack leapt at Reney, holding his hand back so he could get the full velocity of the sword, and latched onto the weapon. However, as he tried pulling it out, he found it was blocked. He could feel it, but the power to bring it into this dimension eluded him. And with this delay, he lost the element of surprise, and Reney used her control over wind to propel her fist into his face, sending him rolling along the ground. She ran at him again, and as he tried using his super speed again, he found himself unable to match her speed, and felt the string of a hundred punches and kicks collide with his body before he was tossed in the air, landing unconscious somewhere around Cody.

With what little energy Cody had left, he surveyed the battlefield, seeing that his plan had gone horribly wrong. Somehow Natsu had grown even more powerful, he and Zack somehow lost much of their power, and because of his foolishness, both he and Zack had nearly died.

Fire radiated from Natsu, setting ablaze even the very ground he stood upon. Reney stood back, knowing that being too close to Natsu was a bad idea. "Yeah, attacking the dragon slayer of fire with fire's not a good idea, too bad for you."

The three elementals stood together, knowing they might be outmatched here. Aaron looked to the girls beside him, knowing he couldn't protect them from this powerful of an elemental. At least, not while they were so close to the battle. He saw only one way out of this for them. His hands began trembling, knowing the cost, but the cost of continuing the fight like this would be even worse.

"Run," he ordered.

"What do you mean?" Heather asked.

"You and Bailey have to take the twins and get out of here."

"We can't just leave you here to die."

"I won't die. I have one ultimate technique that I can use to bring him down. But it's too dangerous for anyone else to be around me when I use it," he lied.

"Are you sure?" Heather asked shocked that this was the first time she'd heard about it. And now she really wanted to see what it was too.

"I promise; I'll be fine." He hated breaking promises, but figured it was better to break a promise than to let everyone else die in a pointless battle.

Bailey looked over to the defeated twins, her heart breaking to see her hero broken like that. She wanted to avenge them, and to help Cody get better as he did for her rescuing her like that. But she couldn't, and instead only run and leave this fight to one braver than her.

"Okay, stay safe," Heather said as she and Bailey started walking toward the twins, concern for her brother demanding that she stay behind and fight alongside him. Though, she trusted he knew what he was doing. She couldn't imagine anything other possibility.

"Good bye," Aaron whispered soft enough so no one could here and concentrated to harness as much power as he could. He knew he couldn't win, but would do everything he could to hold them off as long as possible.

Natsu wasn't going to wait for them to plan a counter attack and sent a wall of fire as high and as wide as they could see. The three elementals prepared to try deflecting it, but they knew their powers weren't enough.

A blast of blinding light tore through the battlefield, destroying the fire and blowing everyone back.

"You fools!" a powerful feminine voice cried from the distance.

**A/N: **This seems like a good place to end it. Any guesses who this new person is. I'll give you a hint she's not mine, and at least one of you has seen her before.


	6. Chapter 6: Saving Light, Looming Darknes

**A/N: This update is part of my celebration for being on the site for 5 years! That's right; on April 30 5 years ago I made this account, so today I have decided to update all of my stories that are in progress. This does not mean that more updates will be coming soon if ever though.**

**And here we have Red; part of my fantasy series that has become so much more than I had ever thought it would when I first started. I had decided to abandon this last year, getting new ideas and overwhelmed with all the characters and plots that I had going, sure that there wasn't a way to really bring it all together the way I wanted. This may be my last update for this story, but there is so much in this world that I've fallen in love with. Zack and Cody have become so much more to me here, as I've formed this AU they've become my characters, and**

**Thanks to Wyntirsno for betaing.**

_'Silent tears of pain we cried, _  
_Raise our hands unto the sky_  
_Break the chains that bind us,_  
_One moment in time as we rise'_

_Holding On, Dragonforce_

**Red Chapter 6: Saving Light; Looming Darkness**

Aaron, Heather, and Bailey stood gazing at the blinding light that had swept across the battlefield. Aaron still held a wall of earth around him should anyone try sticking him during this confusion. An uneasy silence filled the air, but no one was ready to admit the battle was over.

Heather and Bailey eyed the light as they stood over the twins, Aaron turning to them, wishing they would just run while they had a chance. If whoever made that light chose they wanted to fight, Aaron knew they'd all be dead in seconds.

"Setsuna!" Natsu's voice rang out…surprise, and maybe even fear evident from his tone.

So, Setsuna, whoever she was, must not be their enemy…

"Natsu, rushing into a battle without knowing who you are fighting could spell catastrophe for us," she said, the light beginning to fade revealing her figure. She had long blond hair flowing down her body, white armor adorning her chest and shoulders, and a sword that seemed to glow held out before her.

"We had them though," Reney protested.

"I hardly broke a sweat here," Natsu said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Aaron knew now might be his only chance to strike. Natsu was distracted with Setsuna and seemed to be ignoring those he was fighting just moments ago. With a well-placed strike, he could take all three of them down. Still, he waited, curiosity demanding he heard the rest of this conversation. He might lose his opportunity to strike, but the information could be even more important

"Perhaps, but did you think of who you were attacking before you rushed into battle?"

"They broke into our base, they have to be spies from the Nightwings," Natsu said.

Aaron's eyes went wide.

So, these elementals were on their side after all?

"If you took the time to learn about your enemy you would discover that they too are enemies of the Nightwings."

"You guys are?" Natsu asked looking to those just seconds ago he had tried to kill.

"Yeah, we just needed a place to rest for the night," Aaron said, waiting for some twist, some surprise. He wasn't about to trust them so easily, but now wasn't the time to chase away a potential ally. Especially knowing that he couldn't match all three of them and the twins needed help now.

"Well why didn't you say so, just come on in," Natsu said as he eagerly walked up to them and began leading them back into the base. Heather quickly followed, but Aaron and Bailey were more cautious.

"You are wise not to trust us so easily," Setsuna said as Reney chased after Natsu.

Aaron looked on, not sure what to say to the powerful warrior who stood just inches away from him now.

"You could have killed us all if you wanted to," Aaron said, broken that he was so weak he couldn't do anything to stop those this powerful. He knew he wasn't the strongest, he had a gift, but it was nothing compared to the power some people possessed. And here he was, thinking that he could be a hero. Looking all around him, he saw the costs of his failure; the battle torn land, the blood along the ground from himself and his friends, and the twins so close to death.

Aaron moved over to the twins, glancing over his shoulder, waiting for Setsuna to reveal her true nature at any moment. He knew he was being paranoid, and even if she was planning something, he knew there was no way he could stop her. But still, he had to be ready.

"Let me get them," she said returning her blade to her sheaf and picking up Zack. Aaron wanted to object, not willing to let his friend so close to a potential enemy, but trusted that this was the right thing to do, even if it was only because he had no other options.

"Okay, thank you," he said as he scooped Cody up, surprised at how heavy he was for being so thin. After that battle though, he was ready to collapse, but had to get his friend to safety.

…

"So what happened to them? They don't look like they were directly hurt much by the battle," They had a number of bruises, burns, broken bones, and were likely in a lot of pain, but Setsuna found it strange that they would be in this bad of condition.

"They've been affected by something since we got to this world," Bailey explained. "I guess this last battle really pushed them too far."

"Probably something the Nightwings did," Natsu said as he leaned against the wall, a small ember sprouting from his nose in tune with his breaths.

"You think it was Angie?" Bailey pondered.

"You met the Nightwing general?" Setsuna said shocked that they were alive after an encounter like that.

"Yeah, she saved us from some Quarons and then used some kind of healing magic on Cody," Bailey explained, now seeing how ignorant they were.

"That was probably just a trick," Natsu said, his anger growing more just thinking about them. "You can't trust those bastards; they're all just heartless murderers."

Aaron couldn't help but wonder what the Nightwings had done to Natsu. He saw the pain the teen was in just thinking about them, and could tell Natsu was doing everything he could to control his fury.

"I guess we should have been more careful," Bailey said.

"Still, Angie seemed so nice," Heather added. Though, she knew that it was probably just a lie, a mask to get them to lower their guard. Looking back, she saw how stupid she was, how stupid they all were for believing such a hallow display of kindness. They were in the land of their enemies, and had seen the destruction the Nightwings caused on earth. They weren't afraid to kill innocents, so why should things be any different in their world?

"How do we know we can trust you though?" Bailey asked.

"We didn't kill you," Reney said. "If we wanted you dead, with Setsuna here, do you really think you guys could do anything to stop us?"

"Yeah, you're right," Heather sighed. She really wanted to punch the wind elemental for that comment. Even if she wasn't their enemy, she hated anyone belittling her like that. So she decided to mumble a few things under her breath instead of resorting to violence…at least for now.

"Let me see if I can heal these twins. Being a light elemental, I should be able to use my powers to heal them," Setsuna said, causing the others to think of Angie saying she'd do the same thing to Cody when she really did something far more sinister. Though, Aaron wondered why Zack was also affected if Cody was the only one she used magic on.

Aaron tried thinking of the possibilities, maybe Angie had also cast a spell on Zack without them noticing, or maybe it was another Nightwing who they didn't notice. But why just the twins? Was it because they were dimensionals, and therefore more susceptible?

Setsuna began gathering a faint white light in her hands while the others looked on, Aaron, Heather, and Bailey wondering what the extent of a light elementals powers were.

The light began bathing the twins, a soothing feeling coming over all in the room. Their tiredness from the day of travel and battle all faded in the presence of the eerie light that began encompassing the whole room. They felt as if they could take on anyone.

But after a moment of being encased in the light, it began fading, confined to just Setsuna's hands and a faint glow that still covered the twins. Their injuries and burns from the battle were restored to normal, white covering them as the skin repaired itself.

Zack began to sit up, his body wide awake despite the time of day and how tired he was just hours ago. He looked around, seeing both friend and foe surrounding him. He noticed his brother beside him, and without time to consider what had happened, he jumped back to his feet, ready to continue the battle. He had to make sure they didn't do anything to hurt Cody again.

"Calm down Zack," Heather said once he brought out his sword ready to swing it at the first person to make a move.

With his mind calmed down enough to take it his surroundings, he noticed the battle had ended. Lowering his guard, he released his hold on the blade and it vanished. He wasn't ready to relax yet though; they had been through too chaotic of a day to rest this easily.

"What's going on here?" Cody asked, now getting up beside his brother. He tried to remember how he ended up back in the underground shelter, but the last thing he remembered he was trying to kill the two elementals at the other side of the room. His friends all seemed okay though, and this new person didn't seem to be here to fight.

"Those two," the new woman said as she pointed to Natsu and Reney, "decided since you were in our base of operations, you must be our enemy, despite not knowing anything about you. I deeply apologize for the trouble they have caused."

So these were new allies?

"That's okay, I just want to know what's going on here," Cody said.

"Well," Setsuna said walking back a few steps so she was facing the new group. "I have seen that you came here to battle the Nightwings, to save your world from them."

"How do you know this?" Cody asked, shocked that these strangers discovered their secret so easily.

"That's a good question. However, the lesser Nightwings are easily willing to reveal secrets when they fear for their life."

"So you beat that out of them," Zack asked, entranced and slightly afraid of the elemental.

"That is a nice way of putting it," she said with a smile that told the others not to make her mad. "Through further interrogations, I was able to learn more about you, and discover where you entered our world. Apparently the Nightwings took notice of the ancients that opposed them during the battle in your world."

"So they know we're here," Cody said. That would ruin the chance of a surprise attack on them, there was no doubt the Nightwings would be ready for an attack, and with that large of an army, it would not be easy to stop them.

"And your goal is to reach the castle and destroy their portal, is it not?" Setsuna asked.

"Exactly," Zack said.

"Which since they also know that, they will have additional troops around the castle, making a successful attack against them devastating, both on your world and ours."

"So you're saying that we should just walk right into the heart of their defenses with only 8 people?" Cody knew the impact of a victory here would be a huge blow to the Nightwings, but how were they supposed to defeat such a powerful army themselves? The Nightwings had an army of millions, if not more. At the very least, thousands would be ready to battle them.

"You have a plan, don't you?" Natsu asked with a grin.

"Their portal requires a tremendous amount of magical energy to keep functioning. What do you think would happen if we were to simply unleash all that power?"

"An explosion that would destroy anything and anybody within the city." Natsu began laughing at the thought. He was ready to go fight them, right now, to unleash that tremendous destructive power, to set the royal city aflame with their own power.

"Won't that include us too?" Heather asked, not really liking the idea of being blown up with the rest of the place.

"If you guys don't get out in time, but if we time the charges right, you can run through the portal before the explosion happens. You get home safely, the portal is destroyed, and the Nightwings lose their capital city."

"Let me guess, there's a catch," Aaron said, knowing things couldn't be that easy.

"Well, in order for this to work, we will need you, earth elemental. In order for this to work we will need to tunnel under the castle, thereby bypassing the majority of the soldiers."

Aaron wasn't sure he would be able to do something like that. He had never tried pushing his powers in such a way, to move all the rock around them for that long of a distance. Still, he knew the value of being able to attack them like that; able to bypass a pointless battle they couldn't win. "Okay," he said though he was starting to shake with fear. '_I can do this,'_he thought to himself, sure that it couldn't be too hard. Or at least hoping so.

"When do we attack them?" Zack asked.

"We can start traveling toward the castle city tomorrow, it will take about a day of walking to get there, and then the next day we will strike." Setsuna looked to the group, looking for signs of hesitation. They'd have to be perfectly ready for what would come. If they weren't they could easily die. "That will give us a day of rest and to make sure we are ready for this."

…

"You nervous?" Cody asked, noticing Aaron had stayed away from them for the past few hours. Though through the clamber of new allies, questions about their different worlds, and plans laid for tomorrow, he had.

"Why shouldn't I be, you're all relying on me to do this? What if I mess up?" Aaron said, burying his head into his hands, just wanting to fade from this world, and the responsibility he faced. He thought back to the many times, where he wanted to be the one to set things right, never imagining that so much could rely on just one.

But, that was what made a hero.

"You just have to have faith in yourself, and in us. You've already shown how strong you are, this will be simple for you."

However, before Aaron could reply, he heard a shout from within their shelter.

"No time to rest, a few hundred Nightwings are on their way, now!" Setsuna said causing both Cody and Aaron to turn to her.

"You have got to be kidding me," Cody said, his body way too tired to be moving this quickly.

"Aaron, it's time."

With a nod, the young earth elemental knew what he had to do. All doubts, fears, they had to be pushed to the side.

"Let's do this."

The three of them journeyed to the lowest point in the base, where the rock appeared to be the softest, the most malleable, and Aaron focused on it, feeling through it for miles. He tried to see through it, let the stone become his vision as he closed his eyes. He felt something in the distance, a giant foundation that could only be built by people. He couldn't make out anything more, just the direction he had to go. But that was enough.

"We ready?" Aaron asked, assuring himself as much as anyone that now was the time. With silent nods and quiet yeses from everyone, Aaron dug through the earth, forming a path before him. Natsu summoned a small flame in his hand to illuminate their path as the passage closed behind them.

Bailey clung closer to Cody, feeling claustrophobic all over again, the thought of being imprisoned by Ryo coming back to the forefront of her mind. She had to remember she was with her friends now, her savior right by her side. She wasn't just some weak kid anymore, she could fight, and the one who hurt her before was dead.

Cody took some heavy breaths, wrapping his arm around her, and he could feel her fear fleeing. That was good, whatever they were going to face up ahead they would need to do so with clear minds.

Aaron felt his body strained with each step they took, the path getting longer and longer, so much so that he barely remembered what direction they needed to be burrowed in.

"Good work bro," Heather said, deciding now was not the time for ridicule. "You're almost there."

"Really? It will be at least a few more hours," Setsuna said, a much more accurate estimate, to Aaron's way of thinking. But still, they were making progress, he only hoped he strength would last that long.


End file.
